1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fabric or garment, and which includes an integrated infrastructure for collecting, processing, transmitting and receiving information.
2. Background of the Art
Efforts have been made previously to create fabrics and garments which incorporate electrodes for monitoring a condition of the wearer, such as EKG, or conductive fibers for electromagnetic screening. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,668,545 to Lowe and 5,103,504 to Dordevic disclose fabrics including conductive fibers for electromagnetic screening and for protecting a wearer from magnetic radiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,572 to Granek et al. discloses a garment for delivering and receiving electric impulses which can include a conductive medium knitted or woven into the cloth, wires sewn onto the cloth or conducting cloth sewn onto non-conducting cloth.
However, these patents fail to disclose either a woven or knitted fabric which incorporates information infrastructure component in the form of a textile fiber which can include a penetration detection component of the fabric for sensing penetration of the fabric or an electrical conductive component of the fabric for collecting or monitoring physical aspects of a wearer of the fabric and which may be worn and hand washed in the same manner as conventional clothing.
A need, therefore, exists for a fabric having an integrated information infrastructure which can be incorporated or fashioned into a wearable garment and which includes a flexible infrastructure for collecting, processing, transmitting and receiving information concerning a wearer of the garment. It is to the provision of such a fabric or garment with an integrated information infrastructure to which the present invention is one aspect directed.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a fabric which can be incorporated or fashioned into a garment and which includes intelligence capability, such as the ability to monitor one or more physical conditions, for example body vital signs, and/or penetration of the fabric.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a wearable fabric which includes a flexible information infrastructure for providing such intelligence capability.
It is an additional object of the present invention to be able to provide a full-fashioned garment which can include intelligence capability, such as the ability to monitor one or more body vital signs and/or penetration of the fabric, and a process for making such a garment.
The fabric of the present invention is a tubular woven or knitted fabric, or a woven or knitted two-dimensional fabric, including a flexible infrastructure for collecting, processing, transmitting and receiving information. The fabric can be provided with information collection and processing means, for monitoring one or more physical conditions of the wearer, as well as for monitoring penetration. The physical conditions can include body vital signs, such as heart rate or EKG, pulse and temperature, allergic reactions (such as an anaphylaxis reaction to a bee sting) and voice. The fabric consists of: a base fabric (xe2x80x9ccomfort componentxe2x80x9d), and at least one signal transmission component. In one embodiment, the signal transmission component can be either a penetration detection component, or an electrical conductive material component, or both. The preferred penetration detection component is a sheathed plastic optical fiber (POF). The preferred electrical conductive component is a doped nylon fiber with conductive inorganic particles and insulated with PVC sheath, insulated stainless steel fiber, or a thin gauge copper wire with polyethylene sheath. Preferably, the penetration detection component and the electrical conductive component have the characteristics of a textile fiber. By a textile fiber, we mean a unit of matter characterized by flexibility, fineness, a high ratio of length to thickness, high temperature stability and a certain minimum strength and extensibility for textile applications. Optionally, the fabric an include a form-fitting component, such as SPANDEX fiber, or a static dissipating component, such as NEGA-STAT, depending upon need and application. Each of these components can be integrated into the fabric of the present invention and thereby incorporated or fashioned into a wearable intelligent garment.
A xe2x80x9ctubularxe2x80x9d woven fabric can be produced using plastic optical fibers (POF) or electrical conducting fibers on both. The POF can, among others, serve the following two main functions: (i) It can help detect projectile penetration; and (ii) it can serve as a xe2x80x9cdata busxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmotherboardxe2x80x9d for transferring information or data to and from other devices that are in communication with it. These capabilities can be used together or individually. The electrical conducting fibers can help to carry information from sensors (mounted on the human/animal body or incorporated into the fabric structure) to monitoring devices to monitor heart rate, breathing rate, voice and/or any other desired body physical property. Thus, the present invention will create a flexible, wearable information infrastructure that will facilitate the xe2x80x9cpluggingxe2x80x9d in of devices for gathering/processing information concerning its wearer utilizing the interconnection of electrical conductive fibers described below. Instead of both POF and conducting fibers, the fabric or garment can incorporate just conducting fibers and not the POF, or vice versa, depending on the desired end-use application. The number, length and pitch (thread spacing) of the POF can be varied to suit the desired end-use requirement. Similarly, the number, length and pitch (thread spacing) of the conducting fibers can be varied to suit the end-use requirement.
This fabric xe2x80x9ctubexe2x80x9d can be xe2x80x9cintegratedxe2x80x9d into a garment structure such as a regular undershirt or T-shirt, by any appropriate joining technique, such as by sewing, gluing, or attachment by velcro, snaps, zippers, buttons, and the like. The interconnection technology described below can be used to attach connectors to the fabric. Sensors can be incorporated into the fabric and/or mounted on the human being or animal and plugged into connectors incorporated into the fabric. The sensors can be used to monitor one or more body physical signs, such as vital signs. Thus, the fabric or garment of the present invention acts as a useful and flexible information infrastructure for information processing.
In another embodiment of this invention, the POF and/or conducting fibers can be used to knit a tube that can be similarly integrated into a regular knitted garment creating another variation of this infrastructure.
In yet another embodiment of this invention, the POF and/or conducting fibers can be either woven or knitted into a regular two-dimensional fabric. The fabric pieces can then be xe2x80x9cintegratedxe2x80x9d into a three-dimensional garment structure, for example, a T-shirt or undershirt, by any appropriate joining technique, such as sewing, gluing, attachment through velcro, buttons, zippers, and the like. By suitably tapping into the appropriate conducting fibers, the required monitoring capabilities will be created. Alternately, the POF can serve as the xe2x80x9cdata busxe2x80x9d in place of or in addition to the conductive fibers for various applications.
It can be seen from the description herein of our invention that a fabric is provided which can be incorporated or fashioned into a wearable garment and which includes an integrated flexible infrastructure for collecting, transmitting, receiving and processing information concerningxe2x80x94but not limited toxe2x80x94a wearer of the garment, thus serving as an information infrastructure or xe2x80x9cwearable motherboard.xe2x80x9d These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification and claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.